Alien Ch. 20

Nine-tenths of education is encouragement.

~Anatole France

Never discourage anyone…who continually makes progress, no matter how slow.

~Plato

To say Shayera took it bad when she learned that she had to take a civics test would have been an understatement. John had to literally restrain and talk some sense into her before she flew all the way to Gotham and killed the judges outright. John quickly learned that Shayera had no clue about the U.S. Constitution or about the history of America. John had spent the previous day explaining everything he knew; it was like teaching a five-year-old. Shayera was still swimming through the information. She was sharp but even she couldn't handle the bombardment all at once.

"First president?" John asked as he walked around the couch Shayera was laying on.

She frowned, "Lincoln?"

"Try again."

"Jefferson?"

He shook his head, "No that's the third president."

"Reagan?"

"Not even close."

Shayera growled, "I don't know the answer to this John."

"Yes you do Shayera," He insisted. "You're smart and you can do this. I'll give you a clue, one dollar bill."

"Madison?"

"Cut down a cherry tree,"

Her eyes lit up. "Washington!"

"There you go babe. Told you, you knew it," John said as he gave her a quick kiss on the lips.

Shayera smirked, "Do I get a kiss for each right answer?"

John shrugged as he returned the smirk, "If you get it right on the first try you do. First amendment?"

"Uh right to bear arms?" He shook his head. "Freedom of oppression?"

"You're on the right track. It's freedom of speech, religion, assembly, and press. How many stars are on the flag?"

Shayera started to count on her fingers. "Thirteen or is that the number of stripes?"

John nodded, "That's the number of stripes. Try again."

"Um 50?"

"See you're not doing so bad. What is Congress and what is their duty?"

"Oh I know this, it's that House of Representatives and the Senate and they make the laws. How was that?" She asked rather pompously.

He smirked as she pulled him down and kissed him, "Perfect. What type of government does the United States have?"

"It starts with a d, I know that. Democratic?"

"That's one way of saying it. It's formally called a Democracy." John stated as he gave her a quick peck on the cheek.

Shayera giggled, "I think I like this."

John smiled at her. "I'm glad you're enjoying this. How long is the President elected for?"

"Eight years?"

"No,"

She frowned, "Ten years?"

"Less,"

Her frown deepened, "Six years?"

"A little less,"

"Four?"

"Bingo, what are the colors of the flag?"

"Is that seriously a question?" Shayera asked dubiously. "A two-year-old could answer that. It's red, white, and blue. Do I get my kiss now?"

"You're demanding." John said amused as he kissed her.

"I call it hormonal," She whispered in his ear. "Can't we do something else?"

"Yeah, you have monitor duty in twenty minutes," She sighed. "Hey it's not my fault."

Shayera raised an eyebrow as she stood. "Do you really want to bring that argument up with me? Last time I checked, I couldn't get myself pregnant."

"It takes two to tango Shay," John countered as he wrapped his arm around her waist. "You're partially to blame too."

"Don't remind me," Shayera stated as she kissed him. "It's my only bargaining chip for later on. Blame everything on you and you do as I say."

"Like I wouldn't do it anyway?"

Shayera smirked as she playfully pushed him. "Alright smartypants, I'm going and I'm taking those papers with me. I got double shift and probably nothing is going to happen. Besides, quizzing myself might help."

Shayera slumped over the dozens of papers in front of her; the words were slowly starting to blur together. She was using her fist to keep her head propped up and her elbow was aching as it rested against the top of the monitor. Her eyes were fluttering with sleep. The U.S. Constitution, while quite fascinating, got very boring to read over for the hundredth time. It was in her nature to want to get everything perfect but it was just so hard to learn and memorize all the details.

So much for priding herself on her ability to pay attention to such intricate details. She was starting to get lazy. Yeah quizzing herself was working, not.

Yawning, she finally gave in, letting her eyes close completely and feeling herself slowly starting to drift to sleep. She could feel her body relaxing for the first time in days. The soft hum of monitor was almost comforting, background noise to help her ease into a comfortable rest.

There was a loud bang as a foot collided with her chair and she quickly snapped awake, blinking at the figure looming over her. A few seconds later, Batman came into full focus. A small frown appeared at the corner of her lips. Not paying attention and falling asleep on monitor duty was very uncharacteristic of her. She waited for him to begin chastising her.

"You're here late. Caffeine isn't normally recommended for pregnant women but I think you really could use this." He said, placing a cup of coffee down in front of her. She watched as he pulled the chair from the other monitor station around and sat next to her. "We need you to stay awake and alert during monitor duty."

"Why did you propose for me to be put on monitor duty and crowd control?" She asked him. "You must have known how I would react."

"I'm against the crowd control part," He confessed. "To me, that's still dangerous. Anything can happen to you out there. On active duty, it was only a matter of time before you got yourself hurt or someone, like Sinestro, went after you. We have a lot of enemies Shayera who would willingly use you to get to the League. We can't afford for that to happen."

"Sorry," Shayera responded sarcastically, rolling her eyes slightly. "I didn't realize this was one of those 'The World According to Batman' moments. You're really a true-blue pessimist Bruce. Though I see your point and it's a valid one. Sinestro wants to get to John; he used me to try get to him before and he could easily try to do so again. Though this time I won't be able to put up that much of a fight. I wouldn't risk it. All Sinestro would have to do is get one good hit on me."

A silence engulfed them for several minutes. After awhile, Bruce leaned over and grabbed one of the papers from under her hand, making her jump in surprise. He looked over it silently for a few moments while she looked at him in pure curiosity and confusion.

"Twelfth Amendment,"

She soon realized what sounded like a statement was really a question. He came here to help her study. She smiled lightly, before clearing her throat, and tried to remember what the hell the answer was.